


Adam's Presents

by askadromming



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Not currently writing, On semi-permanate hiatus don't hold your breath, disassociating (not big deal but still happens)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-24
Updated: 2020-03-22
Packaged: 2020-10-27 04:02:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 7,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20754029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/askadromming/pseuds/askadromming
Summary: Adam finds some presents at his door and falls in love.Completely unrelated he would assure you.-Off-and-on hiatus, sorry!





	1. Some Flowers

Adam had gotten home from an exhausting day. First, he had worked his 8 hour Boyd's shift, and then a 2-hour shift at Nino's, and now he had to study for Latin.

So instead of getting the sleep he desperately needed, Adam was studying. 

A quiet night, a dull one, and he was studying Latin nouns, that he already close to knew perfectly.

Adam heard the footsteps of someone that isn’t used to being quiet, trying to be quiet. Adam assumed it was the mailman doing late rounds, or possibly the church finance woman putting the rent charge in a little late.

After half an hour he was getting restless and quietly trodded outside to check his mailbox.

You might assume it would be mail, bills, or maybe an invitation of some sort, but you’d be terribly wrong.  It was not some meticulous increase in tuition from Aglionby, or another scholarship saying he didn’t have the right “energy” for them.

Sitting in his mailbox were flowers. 

Beautiful, eccentric, completely natural flowers, not the kind you buy at some overpriced flower shop.

No, these weren’t wrapped in a plastic sleeve and bow, with fine trimmed stems. 

The petals weren’t all there or symmetrical, the stems not perfectly straight to a point of unnatural.

Instead, these seemed to be wildflowers, with jagged stems, ugly leaves, and missing petals. 

They had a clean white napkin wrapped around the bottom and were lovingly stuffed into his mail folder.

Adam took them inside, removed some of the sadder leaves, cleaned up the stems, and set them in an old mason jar. He even looked around his apartment and found a piece of ribbon to tie around the jar.

Somehow they fit into his little home so perfectly. The blue and pink flowers, in an old spaghetti sauce jar, with the label taken off, and a poor excuse for a ribbon, sitting on his window, looked like they were meant for him.

He didn’t know the last time he’d gotten an honest gift from someone not trying to help him out, or taking pity and sympathy on him.

These flowers were not some elaborate gift to impress him, or prank to remind him of his childhood, or some way of shitty flirting.

No, someone saw these lovely flowers on the side of the road, and picked some of them, wrapped them in a napkin, and then drove all the way to Adam’s apartment at midnight just to set them anonymously in his mailbox. 

Adam fell asleep still smiling.


	2. A Basket from Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adam receives a basket.

The second time it happened, Adam was having a horrible day. 

Gansey and Blue kept flirting with each other, Ronan had looked sad and desolate all day, and Boyd had a new part-time worker, meaning Adam got laid off a bunch of shifts. So now he was sitting in his sad excuse for a home, wishing he had enough money to eat dinner tonight.

He looked over at the flowers on his windowsill. Over a month since he had gotten them, and they were still as bright as ever. 

Though, curiously, some of the petals were changing colors. So slowly he hadn't noticed until Blue pointed it out.

“I swear to god that those were pink and blue the last time we came over! Now the pink ones look yellow!”

-

Adam sat there, looking at the petals until he started falling asleep. 

He had just closed his eyes when he heard the quick, light footsteps again.

Adam wondered if the flower-person again. So he got up and looked outside. Sadly whoever it was had already booked it, but on the other hand, there was a basket on his doorstep.

He brought it inside and laid it down next to him on his shabby mattress.

What if Gansey had left it? Though it wasn’t really Gansey’s style. Gansey's style was a little oblivious, to the face gifts, rarely wrapped or put in a basket with a cloth covering

Curiosity overcame him and he gently uncovered the basket

It was food. But not fast food, or pizza from Nino’s. No, it wasn't full of grease and reheated in a microwave a few too many times. No, it looked homemade. It was in nice Tupperware with tape on the top that had writing on it. One of them said chicken soup, another tomato soup.

Along with it, there was fresh bread, and honey from those stands you always see at farmer markets but never buy.

He turned the honey jar around to see if it said which farm it was from, but it was a plain glass jar.

Adam didn’t know why, but this didn’t feel like the gift’s that Gansey or the Aglionby boys would give. Those weren’t genuine, bought from other people, or shops and stores. But this was homemade food. 

An actual gift. Made for people, by people. 

Adam didn't think that he had ever had freshly baked bread or homemade soups before. The best you got in the trailer park was watered down cans of condensed tomato soup.

Somehow this was a taste of home he'd never had.


	3. A Sunset Box

The Gangsey were having a movie night.

Noah got first pick tonight, so they were watching Titanic again.

Ronan and Noah had made a frankly ridiculous amount of popcorn, and they had all pitched in for some pizza. Blue and Gansey had thankfully not made out yet, in interest of the movie, and Ronan was making smart-ass comments every three minutes.

"That's completely safe. Just fucking hanging out at the edge of a ship." 

It had been a lovely day so far, so with Adam’s luck, this was right when things went to hell.

Adam noticed Ronan frowning at his shoes where they sat next to the door. He tried to brush it off at first, but Ronan kept glancing over at them, and it bugged Adam so deeply that one of his friends was so openly judging one of the things he struggled to buy new. They were years old, and close to falling apart, but they were one of the first things he'd bought with his own money.

“Ronan, what the hell is so interesting about my shoes?” Adam asked pointedly.

Ronan just frowned again. “It doesn’t matter.”

“I damn well think it does. Aren’t you the one who never lies?” 

“Jesus Parrish just drop it for fuck's sake.”

Adam felt his heart rate increase.

Gansey looked as if he wanted to step in, but Blue put a hand on his arm and shook her head.

“Don’t tell me what to do Lynch! I know my shoes are shitty as hell but that isn’t an excuse for you to stare at them!” 

“Parrish for Christ’s sake, I was just thinking. Not everything is about you and your shitty shoes.” Ronan kept his voice lowered, but that didn’t stop the words from biting.

Ronan stood up suddenly and went to his room, which surprised no one, though everyone was quietly surprised when his door was gently shut instead of slamming it like he usually would.

They finished their movie, and eventually, Adam needed to go home, so untangled himself from the sleeping gang, and walked home. 

The walk was brief, the church being located close near Monmouth which was always a plus.

St. Agnes had no lights on and was likely completely deserted. He trudged his way up to his apartment and collapsed on the bed.

Sleep claimed him quickly, darkness swirling his vision until dreams retook him.

-

A few weeks later, Adam was reading. Gansey had loaned him an old copy of Sherlock Holmes ‘A Study In Scarlet’, and he was close to finished with the battered novel.

He was so immersed in the novel that he almost didn’t catch the light footsteps near his doorstep. Almost.

Adam quickly made his way over to the door, but yet again, they had already left. 

By his uncovered feet was a box. He gently picked it up, brought it inside, and set it on his desk, not wanting to unearth the surprise yet.

His mind drifted to the last gift he had gotten, well over a month ago. He still had some of the homemade honey left over, sitting in his pantry for a special occasion. The basket was now filled with plants, thanks to Blue & Ronan, who both had seemed offended when he said he’d never seen basil or mint plants before.

His thoughts drew back to the box in front of him. It was painted in softly colored paints, blending together, a painting of a sunset. 

Adam lifted up the lid and first saw some dark boots, and then an index card with writing on it.

He grabbed the card and then leaned back in his chair, propping his feet up on his desk.

In elegant, short handwriting that seemed slightly familiar was a short letter explaining the gift.

-

_ Dear Adam, I went through my closet and found an old pair of boots that didn’t fit me anymore. I hope you’ll be able to use them, though please do take care of them. They were very important to me, and I hope you’ll appreciate them. _

-

He put the card down and picked up the boots, expecting mud-coated, worn-out boots.

Instead, he found a pair of lovely ebony-colored boots. They didn’t look new by any means, but the laces looked new, and they were clean. The boots were obviously loved by someone and taken care of, and it made Adam feel strangely warm inside.

If Gansey or Ronan or some other Aglionby boy had given him their old boots, he’d despise them. They would give them dirty old, expensive boots, or just give him terrifyingly expensive boots without a speck of dirt on them.

But these were different. Someone cared about the boots and took care of them. They were more than Adam could afford when first bought, but they weren't useless luxury boots for rich boys, they had actually treads and seemed to be well insulated.

He put the boots on the ground, and looked around the box for any more kind of identification, but found nothing.

Adam picked up the index card, and stuck a pin through it, sticking it to his corkboard that Blue had given him.

He needed to figure out who this was.


	4. A Story

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No present this time, just a moment, a sweet story and sleep.

"Hey Gansey, I need your Latin notes really quick," Adam asked.

He was at Monmouth because it was a movie night, but had come a bit early to check Gansey's handwriting, to compare it to the note tucked into his pants pocket.

"Of course! I'll go grab it real quick." Gansey replied, smiling helpfully, and turning to leave.

After Gansey had left, Adam took out the note from his pocket. He smiled softly at it. 

"Got a secret girlfriend Parrish?" Ronan asked from his spot, draped dramatically on the top of the couch, where Adam had not noticed him before.

Adam jumped slightly, childishly putting the note behind his back, stuttering slightly.

"What? Why would you think that?" Adam replied, a tad too late to be natural.

"Well, one you were smiling and blushing at a notecard, two you are still blushing, and four, you are hiding the card-thingy behind your back. I'm not a dumbass, Parrish." Ronan smirked slightly but looked really dumb from his position on the couch.

Gansey strode into the room. He had his Latin notebook in his hands.

"Language Ronan."

"Asshat."

"Ronan."

"But  _ Mommmm! _ " Ronan was now standing, looking as sharp as ever, but amused.

"Lynch you didn't even count in order," Adam commented.

Gansey strode over, with purpose, and handed Adam his notebook.

It took under a minute for Adam to notice they were much different.

Gansey's writing swirled from one word to the next, almost cursive except for the fact that it was close to scrawled on, connecting from points that normal letters did not connect to each other.

The gift giver's handwriting was concise and beautiful. The words and letters didn't trail off into each other, instead each curving apart, sharply cut off, and then returning for the next letter.

So, definitely not Gansey.

Noah drifted into the room, or maybe he'd already been there. Adam wondered if it could be Noah. Maybe someone had gotten his help.

"Noah, can you write on this paper for me, just really quickly?"

Noah was next to Adam now and tried to pick up the pen, looking at Adam for a clue on what to write.

"Oh, just write the word 'Dear', capitalized, if you could." Adam's accent toed the line of coming loose, his mouth still curled up in a faint smile.

He was wearing the ebony boots. Well, not currently, they had been sat next to the door since he had arrived, but he  _ had  _ been wearing them.

They almost seemed new, but not in that uncomfortable way where they seem too clean, too precise and new. No, they felt like his, even though for a long time before this, they had not been. 

No one had been in the sitting room long enough to notice them, and Adam didn't know if he  _ wanted  _ them to notice. Should he tell them about the presents? They all seemed so personal, specific and caring. He didn't know if he could handle Gansey's concerned frowning, a thumb always rubbing over his lips, wondering if it's someone trying to trick Adam.

Or Blue's mild awkwardness, because they'd never given each other gifts even when they were dating, and Adam wasn't even dating this mystery person.

Or, god, especially not Ronan's ridiculing. When his sharp jaw would tip upwards, and a jackal's cackle would spill out of him, and make some joke about a sugar daddy, or just something.

Or, maybe Ronan would have a different reaction. Like the one about his old shoes. The sullen biting reaction of a creature that feels vulnerable while thinking to themselves. The sharp lines duller, but still just as prevalent. The stinging comment that seemed more desperate as a distraction from Ronan's end than a real remark about Adam.

Or Noah's excitedness. At the idea of a new romance. He was so frustrated with Gansey and Blue's reluctantness to get together, that he'd kept trying to set people up. At first, he'd tried with Ronan, but after Ronan had snapped that he '_wasn't interested in other people_ _Noah, Jesus, you know this already_,' Noah's romantic streak had turned to Adam. This could just encourage him to find Adam some pretty lady, or find his mystery present giver. 

Maybe, Noah would be sad instead. Maybe it would remind him of something Whelk used to say, a comment or remark about presents and romance. It would cause him to get sullen as Ronan did, but instead of defensive, just sad and depleted. A gray, melting into each other, not defined at all, so unlike Ronan's harsh contrasts.

A knock at the door drew him from his thoughts.

Gansey positively  _ gleamed _ . 

"Ah, that must be Jane!" Gansey scurried off to grab the door. 

Adam put the notebook on the desk and closely at the card for any hints that he could have missed the ten million other times he had looked at it.

Ronan was suddenly behind Adam's shoulder and plucked the card out of his hands.

In a high pitched mocking voice, he read it out loud.

Noah glanced up from where he was concentrating on picking up the pencil, but quickly regained his focus and smiled when he succeeded finally.

"So Parrish, my guess was right, huh. Got a secret girly-girl giving you her old boots?" Ronan's gaze wasn't as sharp as it could have been. 

"Shut up Lynch. It's just someone being sweet, something you, unsurprisingly wouldn't know anything about." Adam bit back just as fierce, but also not sharp.

Ronan looked a little less mocking at that, and he gently put the card back into Adam's hands.

"I guess I wouldn't." It seemed that the venom that usually powered Ronan, had simply slid out of him.

He slumped back onto the couch.

Noah tapped Adam's arm excitedly.

"Adam look! I wrote a whole sentence without flickering, or dropping the pencil or anything! What did you need it for, anyway?" 

Adam smiled back and leaned over to inspect the writing. 

"Oh, uh, just an idea I guess, don't worry about it. I think Blue's in the hallway, you should go show her." Noah smiled even brighter at that, and honest to god  _ skipped  _ finding Blue.

Noah's handwriting looked like him. It went from bubbly and excited to slow and methodical and back and to. It was unsteady at times and got as faint as Ronan's grim smile did when you mentioned Kavinski. 

So not Noah or Gansey.

"Ronan why are you moping on the couch. I leave for two minutes and you are  _ moping _ ."

Gansey was back in the sitting room, with Blue and Noah at his side. 

"I'm not  _ moping _ . And I get that you like to get lost in your fucking beloved's eyes, but that was not just two minutes."

"We aren't dating." They said in unison.

Everyone in the room rolled their eyes. 

Possibly even Gansey and Blue rolled their eyes.

They started the movie, and it was calm.

Gansey and Blue fell asleep on each other halfway through, and Noah eventually faded away, a gleaming smile still on his face. Ronan had his eyes closed and the sharp lines had been smoothed away, ever so slightly.

The movie faded to black and Adam got up silently. He made his way to the kitchen-bathroom and looked in the mirror. 

It was him. Of course, it was him. Why would it look like someone else?

It was always him. Always the same reflection mirrored back at him, the same mousy hair, sullen eyes, desolate features. 

Was it him anymore? Was that person in the mirror who he was? Or was it some cheap imitation staring at him? Fooling all these people he considered friends. Someday they'd realize that he was not worthy of their company. Of their appreciation and kind words.

He just stared at himself. Darkness drew in on the sides of his eyes, but he couldn't draw away.

Ronan looked up. He hadn't been sleeping, that'd be much too dangerous with everyone in the room, but he hadn't been fully awake either.

He did a silent headcount. Gansey and Blue were being gross lovebirds on the couch, sleeping on each other, Noah was presumably faded away.

And Adam was fucking gone. At first, Ronan was annoyed, it was much past midnight, it would be dangerous for him to try and bike home in the stark darkness.

But he saw Adam's worn jacket draped over a chair, his bag next to it.

Ronan breathed a sigh of relief and stood up to find the idiot.

He first glanced into everyone's rooms. It was unlikely that Parrish had laid down in one of them, and he was correct. So the kitchen/bathroom was next.

He entered the room as silently as he could and saw Adam staring at his reflection. 

His knuckles were white from where they clung to the counter, his body rigid and tightly strung.

Ronan's first thought was to touch Adam's shoulder and try to raise him from his episode of...well whatever this was. 

But he knew that wouldn't go down well. If Adam, king of noticing people enter rooms, hadn't noticed Ronan's heavy footsteps, then he wouldn't be there enough to know the difference between Ronan and Adam's dad.

So instead Ronan spoke quietly. 

"Parrish. I know you're pretty but you need to sleep. Come on man." He was several feet away from Adam still, not wanting to scare him.

This had happened before, Adam disassociating or whatever Blue had said. Some reaction to trauma and anxiety and other mental stuff that Ronan knew close to crap about.

But Blue and Gansey had been able to deal with it, speaking gently and eventually drawing Adam back to the present and making him go back to sleep.

The next day he'd been fine, and not really remembered anything, so no one bothered to elaborate on what had happened the night before.

"Adam. Dude. Hey." Ronan raised his voice only a smidge louder. 

Maybe he should go grab Gansey. Or Blue. Someone that could deal with this.

But, Gansey so rarely slept before three am anymore, and he knew Blue needed to sleep as well.

So it was up to Ronan Lynch, the loud mean person of the group, to be gentle and soft.

Fuck. He was doomed.

Ronan eventually had sat on a counter. He was still talking gently, about whatever bullshit came to his mind. Old stories, from a time before this, before death and mysteries and nightmares. 

"So anyway, Gansey started crying and his sister was flying away in her helicopter, and Noah and I were just fucking cackling on the ground because we told him this would happen someday, but he didn't listen."

Ronan's eyes were closed and he was leaning against the wall, hoping eventually Adam would wake up out of this. It had been about 15 minutes and nothing had worked so far, but he didn't dare try to touch him or be loud.

Ronan had trailed off and was just breathing for a second. He should probably go wake up Blue and Gansey from their sleep to fix this. He wasn't getting anywhere.

"What happened next?" 

Ronan's eyes shot open. 

Adam had his eyes closed now, and was just gently swaying back and forth from his position leaning on the sink.

"Well, I'll continue the bedtime story once you go to bed dumbass." Ronan shot back, daring to smile. 

He didn't think that he had really done anything of importance, but at least Adam had the ghost of a smile and wasn't dead to this world.

"I should probably head back to St. Agnes," Adam said sleepily. He was still gently swaying back and forth. 

"Like hell you are. I'm dumping you in Noah's room once you drink this glass of water." 

Ronan hopped off the counter, feet connecting with the ground, creating a loud thump. 

He looked for a glass, but Noah had destroyed the last one while trying to juggle, so he just grabbed a bottle of water and shoved it into Adam's hands instead.

"_Ta-da,_" Ronan said in a dull tone.

He then put a gentle hand on Adam's arm, judging his reaction silently. It was barely a touch, just the light ghost of his hand.

Adam didn't seem to notice and just drank his water.

So Ronan  _ gracefully  _ dragged them to Noah's room and sat in the old recliner.

"Ronan, I'll be fine on the couch. Seriously I don't want to kick Noah out of his room."

"He's a fucking ghost dipshit. Also, your old man back is going to hurt if you sleep on that sack of shit again."

Adam sighed dramatically and hesitantly sat on the bed. The water bottle was now empty and he gently set in on the old oak nightstand.

Ronan didn't want to push it, so he just continued with the story.

"Now where were we? Oh right. So Gansey is sobbing, and Noah and I are crying of laughter. We have no food left and Helen just dipped because her fuel was too low and was getting annoyed..."

Ronan told the story, and then another one, and another one, until both Adam and he were asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the whole disassociating thingy, is based on my episodes of it. I know it comes up in different ways for people, so yeah. I was actually in a pretty bad episode while writing most of this haha.  
This should be the start of chapters being longer as well.


	5. Bellus!

Adam liked Sundays. He rarely worked on them and had all of his schoolwork done by then. 

Which meant that Adam could _ relax _.

Often times, that meant catching up on the sleep he'd missed that week, sleeping until the sun wasn't shining through his curtains, and Gansey had long given up on drawing him out of his apartment.

Which meant that Adam slept in on Sundays.

Except, for the fact that he was very much awake before ten am because a young girl was on his chest staring into his eyes.

"Bellus! Wake up! Ronan has sweet dough!! Doughnuts!" 

Adam groaned and dragged a pillow over his face.

She chirped and stole the pillow, throwing it on the ground behind her.

Her hair tickled his nose, and her boney knees were digging into his abdomen.

"Bellus! Up up!" Opal was now on her feet, and twirling around singing some nonsense song. She was wearing a bright yellow raincoat that Ronan had dreamt her, on top of a dress she and Blue had made, which meant it was delightfully ugly and unique.

Adam sat up and squinted, the sun shining right in his eyes. 

Low and behold, Ronan was throwing back his curtains noisily, and there were doughnuts on the counter.

"Parrish, get up before Opal starts eating your boots. I told her she can't have a doughnut before you get up." 

Said Opal was stomping around, Chainsaw carefully balanced on her head.

Ronan sat on an old chair and took off his shoes. They were black boots, similar to his, but Ronan's looked like it had glitter that flowed in them, shining and occasionally catching the sun.

"Opal, take off your shoes before you get Parrish's carpet fucked up." 

She grimaced, but swiftly removed the shoes and tossed them at Ronan's chest before twirling around even quicker. Chainsaw flew up and cawed at her. 

Adam got to his feet and trudged over to the pastry box. It contained doughnuts, all of different colors, flavors, fillings and shapes

This happened every few weeks, where Ronan would drive to the Barns for Opal and skip church to eat breakfast with Adam.

Opal screeched, scarily similar to Chainsaw, and rushed over to grab as many doughnuts as she could hold.

Her blond hair flowed behind her, flowers and leaves occasionally falling out, and drifting softly to the ground, to eventually fade away once she left. 

Adam stuffed a doughnut in his mouth, ducked down, picked up a flower, and tucked it into her hair.

Opal giggled and kissed him on the nose before running around, shoving Ronan off the chair, and claiming it for herself.

Adam sighed contentedly and hopped up on the counter.

"Lynch, come eat a doughnut with me before we eat them all."

Ronan was still sitting on the floor, grinning like a doofus.

He grabbed a doughnut and hopped up next to Adam.

"Opal has been a pest today,"

"I wonder where she got that from." 

Ronan bumped his shoulder into Adam's and muttered, "I'll show you a pest."

Opal ran over and ate several doughnuts in a matter of seconds and then tried to hop up on the counter but failed.

"Kerah! Help me up!"

Ronan chuckled.

"Sorry kid, this is for tall people."

She pouted and tried to hop up on the other side of Adam.

"Bellus! Help?" Her eyes were so hopeful, that Adam gave her a hand, and she climbed up, hoofs probably scratching his countersides.

Ronan cleared his throat.

"So uh, how're the classes going?"

"They are going fine, idiot. And I had a few colleges offer me scholarships already, even though I still have like 6 months of school left."

Ronan grinned.

"I knew your smart genius brain would come in handy."

Opal clapped.

"Callidus! Cerebrum! Intelligentes! Smart!" She hopped down from the counter and chased around Chainsaw.

"Thank you, Opal, I appreciate the compliments. It's not even that big of a deal anyway though," Adam said while reaching for a doughnut with neon pink glitter on it. It was the kind of doughnut that he thought Noah or Henry would get non-ironically. 

Ronan frowned and crossed his arms like a grumpy toddler.

"What do you mean it's 'not that big of a deal'? Aren't scholarships only for the best of the best of the nerds?" 

"Well yeah, but not in the way you are thinking."

Ronan shifted, and laid down on the counter, propping his feet up on Adam's legs. 

"Sounds like bullshit t-"

Opal laughed and repeated him.

"Bullshit! Bullshit! Kerah owes me a denarius! Coin!" She danced around, Chainsaw now chasing _ her _. 

"Hey! No repeating me, and fine, you'll get your coin later." 

Adam laughed more, as Opal stole Ronan's wallet from his coat on the chair and took 3 silver coins out.

"Cervus, get your ass back here, you can't just _steal _my wallet!" Ronan hopped off the counter and chased Opal around.

She was singing again and laughing loudly, Ronan cursing and tripping occasionally.

Ronan had opened his windows, so a sweet, cold breeze filtered in, smelling of pine and fall.

Sunlight shown through his blinds, Chainsaw now sitting contentedly in one of the beams.

Adam was startled by the intense realization that he never wanted this to end. That he loved spending his mornings with Opal and Ronan and Chainsaw.

Adam hopped down from the counter and started making tea, a new ritual that Maura had somehow passed onto them.

Opal, strangely enough, liked Maura's mint-tomato tea and would drink it constantly if given the chance. She liked it with two teaspoons of milk, at least a cup of sugar, and chocolate syrup.

She had brought a box the first time she had come to St. Agnes and put it in his cupboards for when she came over.

Ronan, pretended to hate tea, but Adam knew he liked hibiscus tea and would buy it secretly from Calla and act like he just coincidentally always had it in his cupboard.

Adam himself like Chai tea, darkly brewed with nothing in it. 

Adam only had four mugs.

A bee one that belonged to Gansey

A mug with a galaxy that twinkled when you stared at it, a gift from Ronan, that Adam always used.

A mug that Opal had found at a garage sale that had a photo of a pig on it, that she refused to let anyone else drink out of. 

And finally, a clay mug for Ronan that Adam had made when Calla went through her ceramics phase, that was the color of Ronan's eyes.

Now, Ronan was not aware that it was that color for a reason, just that it was his mug whenever he came to St. Agnes.

Adam started setting up Opal's gross concoction when he got interrupted. 

Opal was standing in front of him, her head cocked in a silent question.

Adam was not sure what the question was.

"Bellus? Hug?" 

Adam smiled softly and hugged her.

Then he picked her up and swung her around in a circle, making them both laugh. He did it until they both were dizzy, and collapsed onto the couch.

Ronan was leaning against the wall, smiling brighter than Adam had ever seen him smile.

"Gansey wants us to go hiking with Henry tomorrow. You up for it?"

Adam nodded. Opal was quickly falling asleep on his chest. Chainsaw circled above them before landing on Opal's back and tucking her head under her wing.

"Seems like your dream creatures like sleeping on top of me," Adam said quietly, softly running a hand through Opal's hair, occasionally snagging on a leaf or flower.

Ronan grinned. 

"Maybe you are just too comfy, Parrish." 

"Oh, shut up."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IM SO SORRY!!!  
rough week, but here you are!! <333


	6. A Ride

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In this one, Adam gets a ride.

Adam tossed an oily rag onto the table.

He was finishing up his shift at Boyd's but had stayed late trying to finish a Lexus RX, who's bumper had been completely crumpled by a lamppost.

Adam leaned against a wall and slid down to the ground, just breathing for a minute. It was only noon but he felt exhausted.

Everything smelled of gasoline, heat, and daydreams, a whirlwind of scents that made him sleepy.  His eyes closed and images of Cabeswater flashed in his head.  Adam drifted further and further into sleep.

A door slammed open, and his eyes flashed open.

A saccharine, fakely-high voice rang through the shop.

"Oh, sweetie pie, please hurry up, our daughter is eating my BMW's fucking leather seats."

Adam groaned and got to his feet.

"Your. Your daughter. She is a devil and you are why." 

Ronan shook some keys in his hands by the door.

"Look! I found some of Boyd's keys, so  _ let's go _ . Gansey will have my head if we are late to meet his boyfriend and the hike."

Adam made his way over to Ronan and snatched the keys from his hand to lock up the building.

"We need to stop at my place. I need a shower and a change of clothes." 

Adam got into the BMW, his muscles straining. It took him a moment to realize that Ronan wasn't kidding about Opal being in the car.  Ronan clambered in and shot out of the parking lot, buckling up at the same time.

"Cervus, get your fucking seat belt on." 

Opal pouted but did it anyway.

"Lynch. Why are you bringing Opal? Henry doesn't know about magic."

Ronan gleamed slyly.

"Adam! Bellus! Look at my feet!" She was grinning and her legs were outstretched.

On her feet looked to be her normal rainboots, but he realized that her legs looked completely human with them on.

"Those are lovely Opal."

She gleamed just like Ronan and Adam's heart panged with longing.

-

Snow was sprinkling down slightly and Adam groaned as they got out of the BMW.

"This hike is going to suck ass." 

Opal twirled around with her tongue out, ignorant of their complaints.

Adam started his shower as Ronan and Opal secretly made homemade hot cocoa and filled 5 thermoses with it. Once the task was completed, Ronan screwed the lids on tightly and then sent Opal to go put them in the BMW and then play in the snow while Ronan waited for Adam.

When Adam came out, he was dressed in his ebony boots, and a big fluffy jacket Gansey had given him. (Blue had later informed Adam when he was feeling guilty that Gansey had gotten it from Ronan's abandoned closet)

Ronan hopped off the kitchen counter and raced Adam down to the car.

Once they got to the hiking trail, Opal started complaining of the cold. 

"Bellus I'm cold!"

Adam refused to meet Ronan's gaze as he took off his knitted gloves that Persephone had made before she died and put them onto Opal's small, chilly hands. 

"Aww Adam, you make such a good da-uh role model for her!"

Ronan rolled his eyes and quietly said to Noah, "Nice catch ghostie."

Adam ignored them and followed Opal to Gansey's car.  Ronan smiled softly at Adam and Opal hand in hand.

"Have you told him about the gifts yet?"

"Shut up Noah. You shouldn't even know about that."

Noah giggled and tapped his head. 

"Mind reading powers, remember?"

Adam greeted Gansey, Blue, and Henry as they got out.

When Henry got out, Adam hissed as his arm got swiftly twisted around his back as Opal hid from the stranger.

"Sorry about her, she's a bit shy."

"No worries! I am too!" 

Blue wrapped an arm around Gansey, nabbed Henry's hand and led them to where Noah and Ronan were.

Adam lingered behind and waited until they were far enough away so they couldn't hear them before turning around to meet Opal's gaze.

"If you need me to drive you to the Barns it'll only take 10 minutes. I honestly don't mind."

She shook her head.

"He seems...bene. I just am worried." 

"Henry is a sweet person. He won't mind if you don't want to interact with him or want to walk behind him with me."

Opal took a shuddering breath and led them forward. When they met up with the gang, she released Adam's hand and extended her hand to Henry.

"I am Opal. I know Latin." 

Henery look delighted by her and shook her hand soundly.

"I am Henry. I know Chinese and Korean."

Opal nodded resolutely. 

"We know same amount of languages."

Henry cocked his head at this, trying to distinguish the joke, but smiled anyway and didn't bother questioning it.

Gansey grinned and said, "Onward with our quest!"

"To where Gansey boy?"

"To infinity and beyond nerds!" Blue shouted as she ran off ahead of them.


	7. Warm Drinks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Opal finds a relic and breaks out the cocoa.

They had been walking for 20 minutes when Opal ran ahead. She twirled around, cawing, and rolling words loud enough to echo down the valley. 

Blue was sitting on Henry's shoulders and debating with Gansey about aliens.

Adam felt the thud of his boots against the path, the soft whistling of the wind, the giggling of Opal as she sang and yelled, and the warm presence of Ronan aside his own. All of it made him feel strangely warm inside.

"So, your girlfriend send any more gifts Parrish?" 

Adam laughed softly.

"Nah, I thought for a moment they made me some super salty cookies, but it turned out to just be a sweet woman from your church. Wait, why do you assume it's a girl?"

Ronan bumped shoulders with him.

"Cause, Parrish. I thought all the hometown girls were in love with you."

"Man, you know that isn't true. I flirted a total of two times with Blue." 

Ronan's response was cut off by Opal running out from behind him with a small object in her hands.

"Kerah! Kerah! Bellus! Look! A paulo anatis!"

Adam laughed softly as she twirled around them with her gift.

"Can I see your little duck?"

Ronan playfully shoved Adam.

"Nah, Opal, give me the duck!"

Opal giggled and made a big show of deciding, tapping her finger on her chin and humming.

"Ita! Bellus Adam deserves little anatis!"

She took a knee and presents Adam a small figure covered in mud and snow.  Adam took it softly. He cleaned it off on his shirt and looked at it closely. 

It was a small iron carving, barely bigger than his thumb. A raven carving, still warm from Opal's hands. 

"Hey y'all, come and look at what Opal found. I think it's a figurine of a raven." 

The gang all crowd around Adam, amazed at the little creature's find.

Opal, losing interest ran back into the woods to find more.

Gansey held the small thing delicately as if it were a real raven.

When Henry held the carving, it was one of pure amazement and study. 

"My mother collects...things, but I have never seen such a small object so detailed. And it still has dirt on it, imagine what it will look like when it has been cleaned!"

Blue nabbed the carving and cleaned it a bit more, stealing Gansey's glasses cloth to do it.

After a minute she shouted triumphantly.

"Aha! I knew it! See this little hole? It's meant to go on a necklace." 

She reached into her backpack and pulled out a small packet of embroidery thread, much to the bewilderment of Ronan.

She and Henry gracefully put it over Gansey's head.

"We are on the right path!" Gansey declared while leading them on.

They decided to trek on through the snow, though as they walked Adam noticed that Gansey and Blue had joined hands with Henry, and he smiled to himself. 

Opal followed behind them for a few minutes before joining them again, and Adam put her on his shoulders where she loudly took reign over the directions of the hike.

Halfway through their hike, Adam's hands start shaking because of the cold. 

He tried to pull up his sleeves, which worked for a while, but the cold slowly threaded it's way down from the tips of his fingers to the rest of his hands, and then his arms.

With help from Opal, Gansey found an abandoned picnic bench, and they sat down to rest.

Once they sat down, Opal ran around and started pulling out thermos after thermos and distributing them.

"They have fancy spices! Ronan and I made in them in Adam's kitchen!" 

Adam looked questioningly at Ronan as Opal handed him, a magically, steaming hot thermos.

Ronan didn't make eye contact.

Adam continued looking at him.

Ronan cringed under the gaze.

Opal climbed up on the table while singing the ingredients for the cocoa, in the tune of the murder squash song.

Adam siped his cocoa casually while staring at Ronan.

Ronan slowly turned to Adam, face completely blank.

Adam's eyebrows were raised questioningly.

"You were taking a long time in the shower."

"You had thermos' on you."

"I had them in the trunk?"

Opal leaned down in front of Adam's face.

"We were too busy to make cocoa because we were making a gift fo-"

Strong hands wrapped around her face and pulled her into a bear hug.

"Cervus,  _ what did I tell you? _ "

She visibly thought for a minute before lighting up when she remembered.

"A secret!"

"And how do we keep secrets?"

She frowned.

"...by telling Adam?"

He stared at her disappointingly. 

She cackled and ran off to pour cocoa into the snow and eat it.

Adam laughed, and it's the sweetest sound Ronan's ever heard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry it's late! I just got my first foster cat, and have been busy socializing with her.  
Her shelter caught on fire a few nights ago and they had to clear out all the animals to my shelter where they waited overnight and were dispersed to fosters the next evening, so she's a little traumatized.  
This chapter is a little sticky feeling and doesn't flow as well as it should have.  
BUT the next chapter is completely written and edited, so you'll get that on the 20th!  
Please kudos/comment & subscribe if you enjoyed!


	8. Dinner & Warmth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adam is cold.

It was getting colder out, and St. Agnes, unfortunately, did not have very good heating, which is to say that it had close to no heating at all, and Adam was not in favor of spending eighty bucks on a space heater that he would only use for three months, or that would just break immediately.

So instead he was wrapped in all of his comforters, doing his English homework. It wasn't going horribly, considering every three minutes he'd have to withdraw his hand into the blankets and wait for warmth to return so he could continue. 

There was a knock at his door.

"Come in," Adam said quietly.

His door swung open, and Ronan's buzzed head appeared. Ronan did not immediately enter the apartment, instead, he tossed a bag of greasy food at Adam's head, missing and instead landing by Adam's feet.

"Parrish, you have a big fucking box out here," Ronan said.

"Can you bring it in for me? Please?" Adam said pitifully. He was still encased in cheap blankets, voice slightly muffled.

On normal days he would have rejected the food and kicked Ronan out, but today he was starving, cold and honestly, wanted some company.

Ronan picked up the huge box and kicked the door closed behind him. 

"Anything else my _ liege _ ?" 

"You could open it for me, Lynch," Adam replied only half-joking.

Ronan snorted, grabbed a burger out of the bag and sat on the floor.

Adam set down his sandwich, and with his blankets still wrapped around him, made his way over to the box and sat down next to it.

Then he groaned because he didn't have anything sharp to cut it with.

"What in the hell are you groaning about Parrish?" 

"Shut it. Wait, actually, do you have a knife on you?"

Ronan grinned, sharp and sweet. 

"Finally, decided I am too much of an asshole?" Ronan then chucked a closed pocket knife in his direction.

"No, Declan would murder me for messing up his plans." Adam slit the tape holding the top of the box together.

He then set it on its side and slipped the clunky contents out of it.

A heavy, solid, metal contraption slid noisily out of the box.

A single index card also fluttered out, landing near one of Ronan's feet.

"Ooo, it's another gift from your girlfriend. She seemed to have gifted you......a rusty old machine, very gracious she is." Ronan said in a high-pitched voice while leaning over to pick up the index card.

"It says:  _ I recently have decided to repair some of my dad's old defunct machines. This is a good heater that doesn't whirr or make any annoying sounds, which I think is a blessing. Sincere vestrum, fitheach _ "

Adam thought to himself for a minute. 

"Wait, they know Latin? What the fuck. Also, what does that mean? I got sincerely yours, but the name is definitely not in Latin."

"Parrish, pretty much everyone you talk to knows Latin. And what do I look like? A fucking dictionary?" 

"But...doesn't that mean they go to Aglionby?" Adam asked, more to himself than Ronan.

"Man, not only Aglionby students know Latin. Maybe it's some old fucking lady with an interest in it, I don't know." 

Adam was confused. He really didn't think the person that sent him these was an Aglionby student, but it wasn't impossible. 

He shook his head and turned back to the machine. 

It didn't have a cord, so he set it upright and clicked one of the buttons. 

Low and behold, a steady, silent stream of hot air started filtering through the air.

It smelled like lavender, and summer, and nothing like how he thought an old rusty machine would smell like in the dead of winter.

Ronan scooted over to it, holding all of the food, and handed Adam's burger back to him.

"Damn Parrish, your girlfriend is quite over the top. I mean a hand-repaired machine that actually works and won't drain your electricity bill..." Ronan whistled approvingly.

Adam realized that he should share the hoard of blankets, so he broke his nest and extended his arm, offering it to Ronan.

He would have expected Ronan to scoff or roll his eyes. Adam did  _ not _ expect Ronan to scoot very close and wrap the blankets around them both. 

It wasn't unbearably hot, but it was very, very warm. Adam was so tired, he barely noticed his head slowly, oh so very slowly, falling onto Ronan's shoulder. He didn't notice his eyes drooping, and the slow grip of sleep on him, until he was completely, and utterly asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yo, super sorry this is late, state just went on shutdown, and the animal shelter I worked at has been frantically trying to get all our animals into foster homes by today so it's been stressful.  
also, consider this on hiatus for a bit, I'm in a pretty heavy depression so the next chapter might be a few months away.


End file.
